It’s about that time in the hockey calendar where everyone is waiting for things to happen.
The draft is next week. Free agency is the week after. The head coaching carousel is done. So we are all waiting.
What better time, then, to check in on an under-discussed subject: the Islanders’ farm system? Although usually ranked toward the bottom of the barrel — not making a first-round pick since 2019 will do that — the Islanders produced six NHL debutants last season, and turned Hudson Fasching from a castoff to a lineup mainstay. Not bad at all.
The Post hopped on the phone with assistant general manager and AHL Bridgeport GM Chris Lamoriello to talk prospects. (Note: This conversation took place before Samuel Bolduc signed a two-year, $1.6 million extension on Tuesday. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.)
How do you see the team’s system right now? What are its strengths and where can it get better?
Chris Lamoriello: First of all, I think that you always look to try and improve each and every year. You never feel comfortable.
Certainly, we think that we’ve got some areas that we do feel good about, whether it’s goaltending or young defense, and that starts certainly in New York.
I think that we, last year, had an influx of forwards come into the system, turning pro, their first-year seasons, which was good to see. … You start to see some of that depth showing itself at the pro level. A lot of it is in junior or in Europe right now. We’ve got a couple players in college, two of which we signed at the end of the season, came in at the end of the year.
So I think there’s areas that we feel good about, but I know that there’s areas we have to continue to add to, and that’s what we’ll be looking to do in a couple weeks.
People say this is a deep draft. You don’t have a first-round pick — do you think you can still take advantage of that depth?
CL: We hope so. I think that when you look at the draft, you’re always excited about the potential. Certainly there’s some buzz around this year’s draft as far as the depth that it has.
I think last year when we went into the draft, we did have our first-round draft pick and we had an opportunity to make a trade, which we felt was very impactful. Part of that transaction was adding a fourth-round pick, which turned into another defenseman, Isaiah George. And the player that we took first in the draft in the second round, Calle Odelius, we felt was rated in the first round with what we were looking at. He had fallen to us similar to how Aatu Raty fell the prior season. … That’s what depth in a draft hopefully does, allows you in our situation not having a first, where there will be a player hopefully having a first-round talent that would be available with our first pick.
Odelius, I assume, was one of the guys you were referring to earlier as being in Europe with the potential to come over a year from now. How did you view his season?
CL: I think he had a solid year. I think with defense, you always want to be a little bit more patient. Certainly he’s got three-zone abilities. For us, it’s just continuing to build his foundation. And that’s on and off the ice, the maturation that these players go through physiologically and certainly the experience that they gain by playing and the responsibilities that they’re given by their team. Again, he’s working on the foundation.
It was a solid season for him. And we’re looking forward to his offseason growth and to carry it into next season.
Is Sam Bolduc someone you view as potentially being able to break into the top six at the next level next season?
CL: Well, he’s certainly one of the younger defensemen that we feel good about. … We all know how the COVID seasons interrupted some of the development, and he was certainly one of those players that was impacted by that. I think in the prior season he dealt with some injury and some illness.
Last season he got back to I think where we felt he could help the team in three zones. He was fortunate where he did get some NHL exposure. I think those decisions [on the top six] will be made in training camp, but he certainly had a season that we were looking for him to have as far as rebounding through stress. Got some NHL opportunity, which further enhances his experience, his education and his growth.
What did you make of Arnaud Durandeau’s stint with the Islanders and his season in Bridgeport?
CL: I was very happy that Arnaud got a chance with the Islanders this season. Arnaud scored some big goals for [Bridgeport] in the prior season at the end of the year during the playoffs. I think the coaching staff did a really good job with him as far as giving him some different responsibilities last season, which I thought put him in position this season for a recall.
I think he’s more of a three-zone player now than maybe he was a year or so ago. I think that he respects his abilities on both sides of the puck, not just the offensive side that he was maybe known for when he turned pro. … He’s done very well. I think his training has helped him. He had a very, very good summer coming into last season. So I thought that he was prepared as he’s been on and off the ice for more responsibility.
For William Dufour, what are the next steps for him to take?
CL: I think when you look at William Dufour, it’s easy to get excited with his abilities. Certainly his offensive abilities as far as how he can shoot the puck, his ability to score, the timing. He scored a lot of important goals.
I think William is gonna have a normal summer this season. That’s, I think, one of the bigger things that’s gonna contribute to his growth. He’s played as much hockey as anybody in the last 12 months or so with the … World Juniors that was completed in the summer of last year, and then certainly his team going and playing in the Memorial Cup. And for him, both teams were successful — Team Canada winning and his junior team, Saint John’s, winning.
I think this summer he’s gonna have a chance to fully recover and recharge and then start to build. I think his experience last year — he did see one NHL game — the responsibilities that he was given in Bridgeport and then the [fact] that he’s gonna have to have a full summer of training is gonna help him with next steps.
It seems like Matt Maggio has a similar profile to Dufour as far as being a late-round, overage pick who broke out his last year in juniors. What do you think he can do in Bridgeport?
CL: Well, Matt was lucky enough — and unfortunately for him, Windsor was a top seed that got upset in the first round — to come in at the end of the year and play three games.
I think Matt does have the ability to score. He had a tremendous season in the OHL. He was given and earned the captaincy of the team. So I think that his … abilities as a player and talents as a player, [and] also the responsibilities that he was given on his team in Windsor, should put him in a position where he can have three-zone influence. I think the success that he had offensively … we hope certainly can translate. Not that stats is a barometer of success, but he had a heck of a season. … So I think that Matt’s got the ability, right-winger — and we tried him a little bit at center last year — he has versatility. And I think that’s something that we’re excited about.
And I think that when he came in at the end of the year, he certainly reinforced how we felt about him in training camp, and then the season that he had in Windsor, that [reinforced] he’s got tremendous potential like William.
Do you guys see those overage players, especially in late rounds, as a place where there’s a little bit of an inefficiency to exploit?
CL: I wouldn’t say inefficiency. What I would say is that timing is different for every player. And sometimes it takes a little bit longer for players, whether it’s physiology, whether it’s growth, whether it’s experience or responsibility that they might be given. All players develop at different cycles. And I think that what we’ve done from a few of these instances is we’ve recognized maybe that there’s a potential — and maybe not the potential that people recognize the prior season. …
These players sometimes you want to draft the prior season, you’re not able to. You’re fortunate if they’re still available with their draft eligibility from the following season. So I look at it as more timing than inefficiency, knowing that players grow and develop at different times.
William Dufour, he was playing center when we drafted him. He got moved to right wing, I think a little bit of his time later in the season, and certainly when he was traded to Saint John’s he played right wing. I do think he’s got versatility as well.
Sometimes when players play for different coaches or play for different teams, they’re given different responsibilities. They’re all gonna be products of the situations that they come from. I think sometimes if you play on a little bit of a team that has a little bit of redundancy in your profile and you’re a younger player, you may not get as much ice time or opportunity. So I think timing is a more appropriate word.
When we talked to Lou a couple months ago, he gave you credit for finding Hudson Fasching. What did you see there and was it a surprise to see him have the kind of success that he did?
CL: I appreciate the mention, but it was an organizational decision.
I think the first thing that we recognized was his profile. He’s 6-foot-4, he’s a right shot, he skates well and I think that was the attraction. Certainly, we paid attention to him when he was playing in Arizona and kept tabs on him. Once he became eligible as a free agent, then we knew he was someone we wanted to speak with.
I think if you look back and you track Hudson’s amateur career and then his transition to pro, you can certainly speak to timing again. And we … did not feel that he had reached his ceiling. We certainly did not know what type of role he would play with the Islanders, but we knew he was a player we wanted to have in the organization. … He added to our organization the balance and positional versatility that we wanted to have. So I think the attraction was the athleticism, [and] certainly the position.
He had been given some leadership roles in organizations he was in in the past. We just felt there was a little bit more that we could expose him to, and a little bit more that he could push himself. And I think for him, he should get most of the credit. He took advantage of the ice time he was given, starting in Bridgeport, and then the responsibility. And then timing worked for him with an injury and an opportunity here and he more than took advantage of that.
What did you think of Simon Holmstrom’s season and can he be a little bit more of a scoring threat than he was able to show?
CL: I think one of the things that we sometimes forget about Simon is his age. He started at 18 with us and he started during one of the COVID seasons and he’s shown tremendous growth since that first season. I think the coaches certainly gave him more responsibilities in all three zones at the start of his third season, which I think he embraced. He was used on the penalty kill as well as the power play. He developed his game to have more influence in all three zones, and I think that when you look at Simon and the opportunity he got this year, he really showed in the last third of this season … that he was capable of being relied upon. …
Certainly he’s continuing to grow. He’s still a very, very young player even though he’s been with us three seasons now. And I do think he can score more, to answer your question, because we saw in Bridgeport that he was getting those types of opportunities.
And I think that’s what you concern yourself about players: are they getting opportunities? And when they get opportunities it’s only a matter of time before you take advantage of that, or more important, one of your teammates takes advantage of it and the team benefits from your opportunities and your influence in the offensive zone.
I don’t worry about his scoring as much as I worry about how he impacts the play, which I do think he’s done offensively.
He’s a 200-foot player who has, in my opinion, developed his mindset to appreciate both sides of the puck, just like we spoke about with Arnaud Durandeau. And I think that’s what’s really given him the ability to have the trust of the coaches in different situations. And don’t forget the age and the youth, the experience, the confidence that will come.
That’s the other part of scoring. You’re getting the opportunities. Now, it’s the confidence that allows you, maybe, to feel comfortable and maybe change a little bit of that angle or change a little bit of that velocity, which allows you to be in what we know is the best league in the world with the best goaltenders in the world.
The long view of Samuel Bolduc’s deal
If Bolduc establishes himself as a long-term answer on the left side of the defense this season after signing a two-year extension at $800,000 per year, it will set the stage for Sebastian Aho to exit in unrestricted free agency a year from now.
Bolduc will be a restricted free agent when his newly-signed deal expires, and has five years left before hitting unrestricted free agency at age 27.
It figures that he and Aho, who had a strong 2022-23, will battle for the third-pair slot on the defense’s left side throughout training camp and into the season. Right now, that counts as a good problem for the Islanders to have.
Elsewhere on the blue line, Scott Mayfield’s status is still unclear, as the righty will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. The Islanders and Mayfield alike have made no secret of their desires for a reunion — the question is whether the salary cap math will get in the way.
The Battle of New York turns up a notch
It has been well-publicized that Peter Laviolette, hired by the Rangers last week to fill their coaching vacancy, is the first man to be behind the bench for both the Blueshirts and the Islanders, having coached the latter for a two-year spell starting in 2001-02.
But it is not the only historical Rangers-Isles anomaly on the staff.
The first assistant hired by Laviolette, Michael Peca, is also the first former Islanders captain to associate with the Rangers after holding the title since Bryan McCabe, who was captain for a sole year in 1997-98 before finishing his playing career with 19 games on Broadway in 2010-11. Patrick Flatley also ended his career with the Rangers after being the Islanders’ captain for five seasons, while former captain Doug Weight had a Rangers stint prior to playing on the Island.
